Over 50 panchayats in three districts—Rewari, Mahendergarh, and Jhajjar—have over the past few days issued letters, all identically worded, prohibiting the entry of Muslim traders, following clashes in Nuh on July 31 and racial tension in other areas of south Haryana, Times of India reported.
The letters, which were signed by the panchayats' sarpanches, also state that Muslims living in these areas must supply their identification documents to the police.
With a few exceptions of families who have lived there for three to four generations, the majority of the villages hardly have any residents from the minority community.
"We don't intend to hurt anyone's religious sentiments," the letters read.
Manoj Kumar, the sub-divisional magistrate of Narnaul (Mahendergarh), told the publication that although he had not physically received the letters, he did see them on social media. He then requested that the block office sends show-cause notices to all the panchayats.
"It is against the law to issue such letters. Though we haven't received any such letter from the panchayats. I got to know about these through the media and social media," he said. "The minority community doesn't even make up 2 per cent of the population in these villages. Everyone lives in harmony, and such a notice will only disrupt that," Kumar added.
'Social media is perhaps claiming that these have been submitted (by the village sarpanches) to their respective sub-divisional magistrates. However, no such matter has reached before SDMs till date as far as we know. So, nothing has been submitted to any administrative officer by any sarpanch,' Mahendergarh Deputy Commissioner Monika Gupta told PTI over phone.
'However, what is going on in the media, we have taken suo motu cognisance of that and are inquiring into the matter,' she added.
Gupta said they have sought reports from field officers in this regard.
When asked why he had written the letter, Vikas, the sarpanch of Saidpur in Mahendergarh, said the Nuh clash was the most recent reason, but the village had several theft cases last July. "All unfortunate incidents started occurring only after outsiders started entering our villages. Right after the Nuh clash, we held a panchayat on August 1 and decided not to allow them inside our villages to maintain peace," he added.
He also stated that he withdrew the letter after his legal advisor told him that targeting a community based on religion was illegal. "I don't know how the letter started circulating on social media. We have withdrawn it," Vikas said.
The sarpanch also mentioned that, according to him, Saidpur was the first village to issue the letter, and others followed.
Meanwhile, a total of 57 FIRs have been registered in connection with the Nuh violence and 188 people arrested so far, according to officials. They said an was FIR also lodged against 11 people for spreading rumours on social media on the violence.
Opposition parties in Haryana have alleged that the violence in Nuh was the result of the 'failure' of the BJP-JJP government
(With PTI inputs)